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05 March 2015

MACARON PART II : THE RECIPE

It's been a while since I posted my macarons essential tips until now to post the basic macaron recipe. I've drafted the post a while ago but I was having problem writing this intro paragraph. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I used the Italian merengue (IM) method to make my macaron. I've done the french merengue (FM) method because I read on other blogs that it was a less fussier way to do it but I never seem to get the perfect macarons, it was always hollow and I tend to overmix the mixture in the end and fail. I did about 5 batches of failed FM macaron until I decided, maybe I should switch to IM. Not all is a loss though, during those times I also learnt about my oven best temperature, should I use baking mat/paper, drying the macaron, etc..

The recipe of FM macaron that I follow comes from Not So Humble Pie. I don't know why it did not work for me because all her macarons looks so great!

In this post I am only posting macaron recipe, I'm not posting the recipes of the filling. Usually, I use basic buttercream or chocolate ganache.

It was not on the first try of my IM macaron conquest that I was successful, probably more like the third or fourth time. I played many times with the ratios of the ingredients and I thought I finally found a good one. The macarons came out decent, but some were still hollow. And then one time, I guess, by luck my kitchen scale was acting funky and I put too much almond meal in my mixture, I was supposed to put 100 gr but I put in much more than that. I saw that that my mixture was really thick, so much so that when I kept folding my mixture, it would not become runny (overmixed). It just stayed thick. When I finally bake the macaron, the frilly feet came out small but the cookie was thick and dense! No hollows! At that moment I realized, you need to have the right amount of dry ingredients (almond meal + powdered sugar). It does not just depend on how you work the egg whites. If you're having troubles making your macarons, try out the recipe below, I'd be interested to know how it goes :)

Check if your almond meal is fine enough, if not, blitz it in the food processor together with the powdered sugar. Sift the mixture on to the bowl with one egg white. Mix the egg white and the almond meal and powdered sugar until it forms a paste.

Put water, caster sugar and the food coloring in the saucepan. Over medium low heat, let the sugar melt. When the sugar is dissolved, increase the heat to boil the mixture until it thickens in to a syrup. If you use a thermometer, it should read 115C.

While you're waiting for your syrup to thicken, using a hand mixer, whisk the other egg white until it forms stiff peak.

When the syrup is ready, slowly pour in to the egg white, keep whisking for about 5 minutes until the mixture is stiff and shiny.

In thirds, combine the meringue mixture into the almond paste, be careful not to overmix.

Pipe the mixture onto your baking paper/silicon mat. When you finish piping all the mixture, rap the baking sheet on to your counter to remove the air pockets and to flatten the macaron.

Let stand on the counter for about 1 hr (depending on the humidity) so that the macaron can form a skin and then bake in the oven, 175C (convection oven) for about 15 - 18 minutes